Uncategorized
He was hired to fight for Wales’s future generations. Does Canada need a job like that?
For the last three years, Derek Walker has been challenging the Welsh government to consider the following: How will your decisions affect people born in Wales as far as 50 years from now?
As his country’s future generations commissioner, Walker’s tasked with advocating for the rights of Wales’s youngest and beyond — and making sure their interests are considered in decision-making.
“Why should we be leaving the problems of today for our children and our grandchildren to fix when we could be fixing them today?” Walker said. “It’s not fair for us to be taking advantage and leaving them to fix the problems we could be fixing ourselves.”
Walker’s job was born out of Wales’s pioneering Well-being of Future Generations Act, which passed in 2015. The act sets out seven goals for the country, including “a healthier Wales” and “a more equal Wales” as well as 50 national indicators to measure progress.
Since taking on the role, Walker said he’s pushed the Welsh government to take stronger actions on cleaning up river pollution and making Wales’s food system more sustainable. But he’s most proud of his work on getting public sector bodies to commit to a real living wage.
“That’s going to make a massive difference in people’s pockets and do something very important to address endemic levels of poverty right across our country,” Walker said.
There’s no shortage of issues facing Canada’s youngest generations today. On top of high unemployment and affordability challenges, they’re grappling with the effects of a changing climate and rapidly advancing artificial intelligence.
With all those issues, Canadian advocates say it’s time the federal government appoint a champion for Canada’s youngest.
Young Canadians worried for their futures
At St. Mother Teresa High School in Ottawa, Grade 8 students are thinking long and hard about their futures — and the challenges they face.
Nayah Tarpeh, 13, wants to be a teacher when she grows up. But, she said, “if you’re just going to university, that’s one expense. If you go to teacher’s college, that’s another expense.”
Ontario is giving colleges and universities billions in new funding, while lifting a seven-year tuition fee freeze and cutting back on the amount of student assistance grants.
“I’m mostly worried about school prices, about university, because I’m scared that [even] if I get a scholarship.… Me or my parents won’t be able to afford it because it’s over-the-top expensive.”
Dimitri Conistis, also 13, said he’s worried about grocery prices. He hears about food costs on the news and at home, and he feels like “you’re getting less for your money and the prices are going up.”
Their teacher, 31-year-old Katie Richmyre, said she’s been thinking about why her students have all these worries.
“It’s social media, right? They’re seeing it, they’re hearing it. Their parents are millennials, and they’re talking about the struggles that they’re having,” Richmyre said.
Richmyre added that she feels like many Canadian government policies are geared toward older voters.
“It worries me as a teacher with these kids every single day — this is going to hurt them in the long run and it’s hurting my generation. When does it get better?”
Advocates want Canada to go further than Wales
Canadian advocates like Paul Kershaw, a UBC professor and founder of the think-tank Generation Squeeze, have seen what Walker is doing in Wales — and they want Ottawa to go even further.
“It is beyond contestation that we are prioritizing investments for an aging population at a scale of urgency that makes what we’re doing for younger people seem absolutely miniscule,” Kershaw said.
He cited the 2025 federal budget, which projects spending on elderly benefits like Old Age Security will rise approximately $24 billion over the next five years.
By contrast, federal spending on “Canada-wide early learning and child care” is projected to rise approximately $1.9 billion over the next five years. The federal government is also expecting to spend approximately $1.5 billion on youth employment supports over the same time frame.
Alongside a commissioner, Kershaw said Canada needs a minister at the cabinet table advocating for generational fairness and an advisory body. The UBC professor said Walker’s role is “necessary, but not sufficient.”
According to a report published last year by Welsh Auditor General Adrian Crompton, there is enthusiasm for the Well-being of Future Generations Act, but the law “is not driving the system-wide change that was intended.”
Kershaw said power is ultimately wielded within government, and a minister for intergenerational fairness can bring that lens to the cabinet table when key decisions are made.
Last May, Prime Minister Mark Carney appointed a cabinet committee to consider ways to “augment the overall quality of life and well-being of Canadians” — a move Kershaw said he is excited about because it could be a launch pad for his group’s proposals.
A different idea in the Senate
Meanwhile, Ontario Sen. Rosemary Moodie is pushing Bill S-212, which would require the federal government create a national strategy for children and youth.
“We don’t have a vision for the health and the well-being of our children. And they’re really supported by a patchwork of programs, supports and benefits,” Moodie said in an interview with CBC News.
“It’s almost as if we are content to leave thousands of kids behind because we are not thinking in the larger picture.”
A new UNICEF report ranks Canada 13th out of 41 countries for child well-being, with troubling numbers on social skills and teen suicide. One 17-year-old shares her experience with social media and how the pandemic worsened the strain on youth mental health.
When asked about Wales’s commissioner, Moodie said it’s similar to her previous proposal about a federal commissioner for children and youth — and she likes the idea.
“What was relevant 10 years ago may not be relevant in the future,” Moodie said. “So we really need somebody who’s not only thinking about what is the status now and where can we improve, but how do we prepare for the future? I think it’s an excellent model.”
Walker said if the federal government wants to try setting up a position like his with the accompanying legislation, it should go for it and “do it in a way that makes sense in a Canadian context.”
“We’re not complacent. We’ve got so much more to do in the long-term interests of our country, but [the Well-being of Future Generations Act] made some important changes, which we wouldn’t have seen happen if it hadn’t been for this legislation,” Walker said.